Sunday, 22 October 2017

For the past 17 years, since the formation of real
opposition to Zanu PF rule in the form of the MDC, President Robert Mugabe’s
government has consistently put in place structures and measures to instil fear
into the minds of Zimbabweans as a way of maintaining the Zanu PF stranglehold
on power.

The biggest victims of this fear weapon are the rural folk
who appear to have been permanently traumatised by the violence, including
murders, beatings and displacement that they have witnessed first hand every
election year.

They have also seen that nothing happens to the
perpetrators of the violence — even when they are taken to court, they always
walk out scot free.

So entrenched is the culture of fear that it has almost
become taboo to talk politics in public places like rural shopping centres, or
at village drinking parties, in churches or any gathering.

The situation is made worse by the arrests of those who
speak out against Mugabe and are charged “for undermining the authority of the
president” or for “subverting a constitutionally elected government” for simply
expressing their opinion.

With the 2018 elections approaching, Mugabe at 94, armed
with total control of government and all its state security institutions, is
gunning for another term in office.

The strongman has withstood pressure from his Zanu PF party
to quit and pass the baton to a younger candidate, even when some senior
officials in his own party have expressed fears his age and record of economic
failure could weigh down the party’s chances in the election.

But far from the factional fights in his own party and the
economic chaos, the key Mugabe holds is his ability to keep state instruments
in his grip and to maintain fear and intimidation in the rural communities.

In the past elections, there have been reports of Zanu PF
manipulating the rural vote by having traditional leaders forcing villagers to
vote for Zanu PF.

With fresh registration for the 2018 election under the new
Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) system underway, there are reports already
indicating malpractices that are likely to give Zanu PF another advantage at
the polls.

The Standard visited Karoi, Magunje, Hurungwe, Marondera and
Wedza and established how the multi-layered parallel government and Zanu PF
structures are all contributing towards the intimidation of villagers ahead of
the BVR process that is yet to reach all areas.

According to our findings, the layers are composed of Zanu
PF ward chairpersons, youth officers employed under the Youth ministry, village
heads, chiefs, members of the Police Internal Security and Intelligence (Pisi),
retired army personnel and intelligence officials.

Pisi officials, according to some villagers, extend their
work beyond the internal security and police intelligence to gather information
about political activities in their areas and pass it on to where this paper
could not establish.

The Standard also established that in some areas Pisi
officials have become feared individuals known to intimidate opposition
supporters and to bar non-Zanu PF political activities.

Although the BVR process had not yet reached Wedza when The
Standard visited, the crew established that villagers were already receiving
intimidating information from village heads and Zanu PF officials.

“Meetings are being held by traditional leaders, especially
village heads, where people are being told that the BVR systems enable
government officials to see who we vote for. They are also saying that village
heads will not give proof of residents to anyone who is not a Zanu PF
supporter,” said a villager in Njenje, close to Wedza growth point.

The Centre for Community for Development in Zimbabwe
(CCDZ), which is conducting a project to encourage citizen participation in
local government and service delivery issues, and has community monitors, also
noted the culture of fear in parts of Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland East,
and Mashonaland West where it operates. CCDZ director Phillip Pasirayi said
they had received reports of systematic intimidation of villagers by
traditional leaders.

“In our quest to encourage participation of citizens in
service delivery, we have noted that in rural areas, the culture of fear is so
entrenched that citizens are afraid of participating in issues that affect them
in their daily lives like service delivery and this is coming from the ruling
party’s tight control of the areas,” said Pasirayi.

“This culture of fear is pervasive in rural communities
such as Mutoko, Murewa and Hurungwe and it needs to be addressed urgently so
that citizens can participate effectively in local governance decision-making
and service delivery issues. There is need to de-politicise development
interventions so that all citizens can have access to services regardless of
their political affiliation.”

CCDZ’s findings match the reports complied by Heal Zimbabwe
Trust on the incidences of violence and intimidation. In one of its
assessments, Heal Zimbabwe recorded 18 BVR related human rights violations
between October 2-11 this year.

“In Buhera, a Village Development Committee [Vidco] member
is intimidating community members at Matsetsa Business Centre. He announced
that the BVR process would allow Zanu PF to identify all community members who
would have voted against Zanu PF,” reads part of the report, which also
includes violations in areas like the political hotspot and Zanu PF stronghold,
Maramba-Pfungwe in Mutoko.

In Mt Darwin North ward 5, Heal Zimbabwe reports, “on 10
October 2017, two village heads [named] were seen taking down serial numbers of
voter slips from people who had registered.”

Election Resources Centre (ERC) director Tawanda Chimhini
said citizens must be empowered to report such cases and said the ERC had a
hotline where citizens could report and, working together with other human
rights NGOs, would escalate the cases to the courts and provide legal
assistance.

“Dockets must be opened of those that are intimidating
others, whether in their personal capacity or representing an organisation.

Once we receive reports, we will escalate it and we will
hold the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission [Zec] accountable.”

Zec, which is the statutory body mandated to conduct
elections in Zimbabwe, has faced a myriad of challenges, including insufficient
resources to conduct a comprehensive countrywide voter education campaign since
the launch of the BVR process last month.

ERC launched its own BVR awareness campaign in Chitungwiza
last week and Chimhini said Zec must be sincere in its voter education.

“We must insist that Zec’s voter education must be very
empowering. It must counter the misinformation that is happening out there in
rural areas. People are being told lies about voter registration. Zec must be
sincere in explaining to citizens that their vote is secret, because this is
being used to intimidate people,” said Chimhini. Standard